Phobos and Deimos
by scarlet tribe
Summary: Ares III was aborted early due to a storm that hit harder than expected, leaving two astronauts stranded on Mars, injured and scared. They have to overcome basic human needs (like air and water), battle the elements, and try not to rip each other's heads off. It's easier to get along in a group, and they weren't expected to be stuck together alone.


The Martian

Mars was beautiful. So was the night sky. There was no light pollution to keep her from seeing the stars now. All her life she had wanted to be an astronaut. She watched as others before her blasted into space, some returning, some not. Her mother all but begged her to pursue something else, because surely she wouldn't get the job. She had to fund her own way through college for the most part. Her father did help, always encouraging her to follow her dreams, no matter how unlikely they are. She wished her mother had lived to see her graduate, see her blast off into space.

"You'll be happy to know that while the soil in grid 28 was very coarse, the soil in 29 is much finer." Watney spoke over his com. Terri was brought out of her day dreaming and looked down at Watney. He was on his knees by her feet collecting a sample. "King was right. She knows her dirt."

"Oh wow, did everybody hear that? Mark and Terri just discovered dirt." Someone commented sarcastically. Terri rolled her eyes but heard Mark snort a bit. "Should we alert the media?"

"Sorry, what are you doing today, Martinez?" Mark asked rhetorically. Terri knelt down with a few containers and started taking samples.

"Making sure something large and obvious is upright." Terri answered him. She faced the ship and put a hand up to her head like she was trying to block the sun. She put a hand on her hip. "Looks ok to me, Martinez. Come play in the dirt." She teased. Mark started laughing quietly.

"Well, I'd like you to know that physical inspection of the MAV is imperative to mission success." Martinez said matter of factly. "I would also like to report that the MAV is still upright." Terri let out a small laugh.

"Told you." King said to Watney, elbowing him. Watney just gave her a small smile.

"Watney, you keep leaving your channel open, which leads to Martinez responding, which leads to me being annoyed." Commander Lewis said over the com as she worked with Vogul.

"Roger that, Martinez the Captain would like you to please, uh, shut your smart mouth." Watney snarked. Martinez laughed over the com.

"I advise you to use a different word to describe Martinez's mouth." Beck taunted. Terri snorted.

"Did Beck just insult me?" Martinez asked and Terri could hear the smile.

"Just ignore him, I don't think he's finished his coffee yet." Terri said over the com. She was using a small spade to collect dirt samples. Commander Lewis, Watney, and she were all sent to study Mars' surface. They sent a geologist (Lewis), a botanist (Watney), and an environmental engineer (King). King's goal was to study the environment, and see if they can hypothesize what kind of environment was there before the planet died. They had to study to see what kind of minerals and other things are found in the dirt. If she was lucky, she would find evidence of decomposed or even fossilized life.

"Dr. Beck, and yeah. He did." WAtney told him.

"I'll be happy to turn the radios off from here commander, just say the word." Johansen said. Mark tried to stop her, but Lewis gave the order and the radios were off.

"Way to go, Watney." Terri said with a snort as she crouched down to start collecting samples. Mark stood there with his arms out in disbelief.

"Shut up, King." He mumbled teasingly and crouched down as well. "Look like anything back on Earth?" He asked her.

"Just looks like dirt to me." She teased. "Just glad I don't have to worry about bugs up here." WAtney laughed at bit at that. An environmentalist who hated bugs.

"I think you joined the wrong profession." WAtney told her, smiling. She snorted.

"It's a bit late now." King pointed out. Terri and Mark got along well over their courses of training and became fairly good friends over the past year or so. Terri was basically fueled by sarcasm and Mark never held back from a well timed joke. Out of the rest of the crew, Mark got her (sometimes dark) sense of humor. And when Mark wanted to talk plants to someone, Terri was the best to go to while on the _Hermes._

"Commander? I need you to come inside and look at this." Johansen called over the radio. King's head popped up and looked over to her commander. Watney looked at her and then turned to look at Lewis and Vogul.

"What is it?" Lewis asked, still digging.

"Storm warning." Johansen said. "They updated their estimate." She explained. Terri stood between Lewis and Watney, looking at the screen. It didn't look good. Johansen was telling them about how fast it was and was talking about the wind speeds.

"I think we should wait it out." Watney suggested. Terri looked at him, not convinced.

"Why?" She asked. "If the MAV tips, we're stuck here. We have no way of getting off this rock." Terri pointed out. The power in the HAB flickered. "Personally, I'd rather not risk it."

"The MAV is able to withstand a specific amount of wind speeds. The storm hasn't gotten that fast yet." He stated. "Let's waited out." There was a brief pause while Lewis thought about it.

"Prep emergency departure." She instructed. Everyone jumped into action. Watney tried to protest, but she shut him down. Once Lewis makes a decision, it's set in stone.

"Let's go, Watney." Terri said softly, nudging him as she past. She was bringing her dark curly hair back up so she could get into her helmet. Terri was checking to make sure her lights were on as she asked "How bad do you think this storm is?"

"Visibility is almost zero." Commander Lewis informed them. "Anyone gets lost, home in on my suit's telemetry." She instructed. They each exchanged quick glances and nods, wishing each other luck. Terri put a hand on Johansen's shoulder. "You ready?" Lewis called out. Each astronaut responded and Lewis opened the door. Immediately, she was knocked to the ground. A few others were pushed back and Terri hand to use Watney's shoulder to steady herself.

"Commander!" Someone called out. "Are you alright?" Someone else called out as Vogul and Beck helped her stand back up. The wind was strong enough to knock them over if they weren't careful.

"I'm fine!" Lewis told them and they pushed on and out into the storm.

"Jesus," Terri said as they were making their way to the MAV. "Anymore wind and I'm gonna start flying!" She said as she put her hands in front of her as if to brace herself against the wind. Mark was in front of her and she tried to catch up. She was starting to lag behind.

"Commander," Martinez called. "The MAV is at 10 degrees. We're going to tip at 12.3." He told them.

"Hey!" Mark called out to the group and they all turned to him. Terri had stepped up next to him as people slowed down. "We might be able to keep the MAV from tipping!"

"How?" Commander Lewis called over the sound of the storm.

"Use the cables from the solar farm as guylines! Anchor it with a rover!" He was saying until something came flying at him. Terri saw it's shadow and tried to reach out to pull him out of the way.

"Watch out!" She called.

"Watney!" One of their team mates called. The object hit Watney before it was lifted up by the wind, taking him with it. He was shouting. Everyone was shouting. Terri reached out to try and grab onto him, but she was hit by something and the wind lifted her, dragging her into the storm as well. She could barely hear the screams of her teammates as she hit the ground hard. She rolled and her ribs sent a jolt of sharp pain. Her head hit her helmet hard when she hit the ground and everything was spinning. Static filled her ears. Her eyes started to drift closed but were snapped open when something slammed into her and landed on top of her. She screamed in pain and tried to sit up, but there was something heavy on her chest.

Terri was seeing spots and it clouded her vision. The static was still filling her ears. Everything was spinning and her vision was fading. Her chest and leg hurt. She felt she was being crushed. It was hard to breathe. She closed her eyes, waiting for her vision to stop spinning.

Someone yelled in pain and Terri opened her eyes. It was light out. The storm had passed and Terri was afraid of how long she had been out. She had passed out apparently and she wondered if she had a concussion. The person's labored breathing got her attention. She tried to sit up but yelled out in pain herself. She looked and saw a large piece of metal was on top of her. It looked like part of the satellite.

"Hello?" Someone gasped out over the com. She knew that voice. "Where are you?" Watney asked, calling out. She could hear him breathing heavily. Terri grunted as she pulled and arm out from underneath the piece of debris. She waved it.

"Here!" She called out. "I'm stuck!" She explained. "Are you ok?" She called out, trying to see him. HE was out of her range of sight. She heard him gasping.

"Something pierced my suit." He told her. "I gotta get another suit. How's your oxygen?" He asked.

"Just go!" She told him. "I'll be fine!" She told him. He left to go get another suit. Terri looked at the piece of metal. It covered her torso and one of her legs. Well, she wasn't just going to sit around and do nothing, so Terri decided to try and see if she can get out from under it.

Terri wiggled her arm to see if she could bring it up out from underneath the metal. It had her arm pinned to her chest. She used her free arm to see if she could lift it or at least slide it. Immediately, her ribs sent a jolt of pain and should couldn't help but cry out in pain.

"Shit." She gasped and let her head fall back onto the ground. She didn't even know how much air she had left. She tried again and tried to push through the pain, but it wouldn't budge. She tried to pull her free leg closer to either kick the metal or to use her knee to lift it up. Neither worked. "Damnit." She mumbled. She was trapped. What was she going to do?

Terri wasn't sure how long she was out there on the ground, but it felt like weeks. She wondered what time it was and she hurt. Her head was still a bit fuzzy. She wondered if she was concussed.

"King!" Watney called to her. "King! I'm coming!" He told her. She could still hear the pain in his voice and wondered what happened to him. Was he alright? He came into her line of vision. He had a hand on his stomach and grunted as he dropped to his knees near her head. "You ok?"

"I'm ok." She told him. "I'm stuck." She told him.

"Are you hurt?" He asked. She looked at him.

"Are you?" She asked. He pressed his lips into a firm line. "Help me out. I can't lift it. My ribs are fucked up." Terri told him. He gripped the metal debris near her shoulders and pulled. It started to budge slowly. He grunted and lost his grip. It fell back on her and she shouted. "Jesus!"

"Sorry." He told her. "If I get it high enough, can you push?" He asked her. She nodded. "Ok. Brace yourself." He told her and lifted again. Terri started pushing with her hand until she could get her knee to help take some of the weight. Together, they pushed the sheet of metal off her. They bothe lay on the Martian dirt, breathing heavy, both in pain.

Terri's suit started beeping. Oxygen alert. She needed to get out of the suit. She rolled to her stomach and slowly got up. She and mark both made their way back to the HAB. Mark had to help her limp back. Her leg was bruised and banged up.

"Pressure stabilized." They were told. Terri ripped off her helmet as fast as she could. Mark helped her to a seat and she started taking off her gloves. "You ok? Saw the satellite dish hit you."

"I'm ok. Got stabbed by a piece of it." He told her. She nodded.

"Yikes." She said and leaned forward, bracing her arms on her knees. "Did you get all the metal out?" She asked. Mark nodded. "Ok. Ok." She said and looked around. Everyone was gone, the MAV was gone. They were stuck on Mars. They were STUCK on Mars. She thought about that and what had to be done. How long could they last? Did the crew make it? Did they still have communication with Earth? Did Earth know they were alive? "I….I don't." She trailed off. What does she say? Mark sat in a chair next to her and looked at her. She met his gaze. "We're fucked, aren't we?" She asked him in a low whisper. He gave her a defeated smile and nodded.

"Yeah." He confirmed. "We're completely fucked."


End file.
